Question - Will UE as a hobby simply become extinct if there are no old/abandoned buildings left and security becomes tighter?

[paulpowers]

Yeah I suppose you're right. Like I said before, the conditions that render a building abandoned are so integral to life that there will probably always be new ones popping up, whether it be a bland office building or some granny bungalow at the end of an overgrown driveway, as Olkka put it lol.

I just had an existential crisis of sorts, realising how fragile the hobby can be if there simply aren't any locations to explore or any ways inside.

Cherish the explores while they're possible, I say.

Entropy is one of the laws of the universe, there will always be decay

 

[jezzyboo]

yes to a degree , there are a finite amount of explores in your radius a few more always pop up and some cease to exist but unless you are willing to travel further and further there is a limit om them

 

[Bikin Glynn]

They can stay unexplored

 

[gatopretorockey]

Cheers for the input, some great points there. You hit the nail on the head re: the masses and I think that is part of the problem. With smartphones and social media completely changing how we think and how we interface with life and the world around us, most people now think "Hmm can I film this for social media/YouTube?" when in a given situation. No hobby or leisurely pursuit is sacred. Be it camping, UE, gaming, guitars, literally every known hobby has a million and one YouTube channels dedicated to it; Urbex has seen an insane rise in popularity amongst "YouTubers" and I believe with almost 100% certainty that this has caused the increase in security measures and the decline as a whole. People are simply chasing content at the end of the day, so there are no standards for size, quality and scale of a location. A shady wee farm house with a few old cars decaying out front will do, and is ideal "content" for these clout chasers. I'm trying not to sound like a gatekeeper, but it was once upon a time a secret community, where photos were shared online in dedicated spaces i.e. here or DP. Now, the cringey, click bait thumbnails and video titles culture has infected UE and it has cheapened it. Everything is sensationalised to get us to click it, with "shocked" faces in the thumbnails or overly dramatic video titles and all sorts of nonsense.

I agree there seems to be some kind of strange decline affecting Urbex everywhere. I had a theory concerning a possible reason for this, at least relevant to my area since it's a small rural community. I often joked with my Urbex pals, "the vandals have done us a solid here!" and silently thanked them for their continued efforts in assuring we have access to these buildings, by doing the 'breaking' for us. We'd much rather enter and leave the breaking to the vandals, as it's a much better deal for the conscience. I think there's a lack of vandalism these days because younger folk just don't have the same drive or curiosity they did in the past that would see them venture out in groups, exploring and wandering around town to alleviate their boredom. They have endless entertainment and social media at their disposal that keeps them hooked and keeps the boredom at bay now. Maybe they're just not that bored any more and going out in groups to wander around town simply isn't attractive. I've noticed it a lot in the past 10 years where I live. Nobody's fooling around or indulging general horseplay, and that, along with these increased security measures, ensure that potential UE goldmines remain out of bounds. There are at least 4 gems in my area but they are not derelict, just abandoned; somebody somewhere owns the building and there are cameras bolted to nearly every conceivable part of the outer walls, with every window firmly intact. It's painful to see.

The rise of the youtubers, tiktockers, or whatever will never match the passion of the people on this website, who are brave enough to explore and report on, the ever dwindling number of easily accessible sites to explore. Your passion, dedication and love for this hobby? pastime? will always far surpass the momentary sensationalism of the exposes they make. When I look at an urbex report on here, I treasure the time, any narrative and the fabulous photographs that often result from your exploits. Thank you from an avid reader, an armchair scaredy-cat urbex explorer. Btw horseplay is a word that isn’t used often enough 😹